We're Gonna Dance on Fire
by Spontaneous Muse
Summary: Assassin AU. He isn't just a college student and she isn't just a part-time librarian. As the two skirt around their truths, they can't help but to feel inexplicably drawn to one another. Violence and some suggestion. SoMa.
1. Prologue

Hey there,

Been a while since I wrote for SoMa. I recently rewatched Mr. Mrs. Smith for fun and this seemed like a cute idea. I'm not sure how long this is going to be but it's not going to be too long. As usual please review.

_Song title - Le Disko; Shiny Toy Guns_

- Muse

.::[::]:.

_Prologue._

He could still remember the first time he laid eyes on her.

Which is kind of ridiculous, considering the circumstances. She had her hair down, a light blonde that reached down to her mid back. She wore a simple black dress, elegant and form-fitting, with a nice necklace as an accent. Also, she had killer legs – he could remember being mesmerized by their length.

Of course, this observation only lasted a fleeting second, as he glanced down to the dance floor in the few moments he could spare from his job. He straightened his tie and crossed the rest of the bridge, ignoring the dance happening below. He only had a few moments to finish this, so he was going to do so quickly.

The door on the other side was locked, but it presented no problem. He scouted quickly – no one was around, thankfully. He could pick the lock, he supposed, but it take too long and it would be _too clean_, he thought with a smirk. Barely exhaling, he smashed his foot into the door with as much force as possible, which in most cases, still wouldn't be enough. But he wasn't a _usual_ case. The wooden door creaked under his foot before splintering, a shoe-sized hole punched out. He ignored the shocked sounds from below at his ruckus. Eh, he thought, they already knew something was up.

He reached inside the door and twisted the lock, pushing his way inside. A guard dressed in black approached him but he vaulted over his head and brought him down. The next few were rudimentary. Finally he reached his target - who was already cowering against a wall.

"I-I don't know who you are, but please – _please – _if it's money you want, I have it," he stammered. The man looked at him with frightful eyes, but all it did was make him grin wider.

"Nah," he drawled slowly, milking every word. "It's not money I want."

The man gasped. "Your _teeth_… why are they _sharp_?"

Soul Eater smirked, reaching inside his pinstripe suit. "All the better to chew you with."

He cocked the gun and shot.

.:[::]:.

He knew he'd get chewed out later, seeing as he may or may not have caused more panic than needed. He could hear the rush of footsteps heading to his location, undoubtedly more guards and cronies. For a dealer, he sure caved fast.

Soul glanced around. Window. He kicked that open too, the glass shattering upon impact. _Whoops_, he thought as it rained down below. He climbed up and began to straddle across the ledge, listening hard to the voices inside the building. There was more commotion underneath, luckily the room he was in didn't face a street. Glancing around one last time, seeing no one, he jumped.

Striking the landing on both feet, he readjusted his suit and deposited his gun. With practicing ease, he relaxed his eyes and posture, sauntering out of the alley. He made his way to the first person he could find from the party – long blonde hair, tight and short red dress.

"Hey," he let his voice drag – it usually helped with the effect, "wha… wha happened?"

She looked at him and her lipstick lips curl in a frown. "You didn't hear that gunshot?"

"Gunshot?" He smirked, careful to hide his teeth. "Nah, I went outside to… to take a leak." He winked at her, which made her recoil and almost seethe in response. "So I guess the party's over?"

"Over for you, I think you should go home and sleep it off," she responded deftly, flagging down a cab. A yellow car stopped in front of her, the driver rolling down his window. "Alrighty," she said, opening the door. "In you get."

Soul ran a hand through his hair. "Thanks lady, maybe we could dance another time."

She smirked back. "Yeah, when you're not a pissing drunk."

He shrugged and climbed in, slamming the door behind him and leaning back into his seat. "Fourty four, Death Road," he said to the cab driver, pulling out his phone and turning it idly in his hands.

As the car drove off, he looked back into the crowd of people in the party.

The little lady with the blonde hair and black dress was nowhere to be found.


	2. Chapter 1

_Thank you for those who have taken interest in this story so far. _

_I had Maka's personality down as too tsundere so I had to go through and change some things - I'm too used to writing Klema, I suppose. _

_This is going to be a relatively short story, I'm anticipating around 6 chapters in length, but they will get longer after this one. _

_Enjoy,_

_~Muse_

.::::::.

Chapter One

_**H**old on to Me, Pretty Baby_

"Why am I here," Soul groaned as he walked towards the large, imposing public library. Even when he wasn't employed in this profession, he avoided this place like the plague. Learning, he used to think, was like a disease. Once you catch it you can never stop, so he avoided it all together. Ironically it worked, as his job doesn't require much academic prowess. Just the physical side. And him being him, he always excelled at that.

But he was here today for research. And for cover. His target wasn't in the library but he could use some help with stake out. And to plan the next trip – when he would undoubtedly be stationed elsewhere. In the past year, he had been trying to change his bravado, moving away from the way he'd handle other _jobs_.

Okay, maybe that much was a lie. He got a lot of flack from Kid after the July Seventh job. Too much noise and too much attention.

Kid had pinched his nose and sighed. "There's a lot to learn in the art of subtlety."

"I never really hit the books on that art," Soul had responded. "Or books in general, really."

Kid let out something close to a laugh, before glancing at him seriously. "Soul Eater, you're one of our best. But lately you've been getting a little carried away. The entire civilian lot was alerted and your target's protectors were notified. You got away but they know now that something is not right, and that you're close to them." Kid had shuffled his papers before placing them carefully on his desk, perfectly symmetrical to his _other_ stack of papers on opposite side.

"What's your point? I get the job done and I never get discovered," Soul had responded boredly. He pushed his chair back, leaning on the back two legs. "'Sides, only I could accomplish that."

"My exact point, Eater," Kid had said. "Once you're found, or seen, or _anything_, it's too extraordinary to not link you to all the other deaths you're responsible for. Don't you see? Be seen once, be noticed once, and our targets _will know_ that only one person is capable of all these feats. And if they ID you, they will know it was always you."

Soul curled his lip. It made sense – as far as he knew, he was the only one who was working in this profession. All those impossible kills where the assassin escaped would be answered if people could see what he was capable of. What _only he _was capable of.

"So no one will see me," he paused, "And I'll wear a hat next time."

Kid was not amused. "You have to change your angle. I want you to do something completely different."

"What is that?" He already had misgivings of where this was going, especially when Kid looked up with those gold eyes and smirked.

"You're not going to like it."

He didn't like it.

So that's why he was here, of all damn places, two o clock on a Saturday afternoon. He had to disguise himself as a _college_ student. _College_. And that was not okay with him. At least he got to pick a major, Kid had joked, but he knew which one he would go for.

And thus he had his ID, student "Soul Evans", studying in criminology. Looked innocent enough. Plus he always did have an interest in the field, just never had the brains. (That wasn't his fault, he had told himself.)

He pushed his way into the library and went to the front desk. Ugh. All the workers here were uptight, nothing to look at. The girl he approached had jet black hair, amber eyes, and almost a meek disposition.

"Hello, I'm here to find resources for a paper I'm writing," he said smoothly.

She looked up, those brown orbs raking over him very obviously until they settled. She moved her black ponytail off her shoulder and replied silkily, "Sure, what are you writing on?"

Uh, what _was_ he writing on? He just wanted to take a look at the books, get a feel for everything. Her eyebrow raised. Soul glanced back at her. "Nevermind," he said quickly, ducking his head and walking into the library.

"It's never too late to pick a topic-!" she called after his retreating figure. God, he hated libraries and the people in them. They were just so… _ugh. _He sauntered his way forwards but the library was _huge_. It was a few stories high with the most confusing layout he had ever seen. Where should he start? Where should he look?

He felt a cool hand on his shoulder and he whirled around, fighting every instinct to grab the knife he had hidden in his foot. Or any of the other weapons he had on his body.

It was then that he laid eyes on her again.

She had the same ashen blonde that she had a year ago, though it didn't reach down anymore. Instead, it was held in place by two long pigtails. No longer was she wearing an elegant black dress, but to his surprise, a white collared shirt with a light yellow sweater pulled over. She still wore a pleated navy blue skirt, so her legs were never an illusion. Everything else was though – no longer was she the sexy girl he noticed from the July Seventh job, but instead she looked just the place – small, smart, but that was it.

But what he didn't account for was her emerald eyes that seemed to twinkle like the facets of a gemstone.

"You look confused," her voice was soft but poignant. Surprisingly a little rougher than he had expected – but a year was a long time, and circumstances change. "I could help, if you'd like?"

He recovered quickly from his gawking. "Um, yeah. I need to find books on my major." She nodded and waited patiently, but he had no idea why. And then it clued on. "Oh, I'm in criminology."

She let out a low whistle. "Nice, that's one of the hardest programs to get into, you know?" _It is? Oh shit, _he thought. She raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. "Well, I could show you where the search computers are, if you're looking for specific resources."

"Ah – I'm not," he responded, running a hand through his hair. "I just wanted to… see the books."

Her eyebrow raised. "Well if you're _in _criminology then I guess you know your stuff, but I'll have you know this library is _very well endowed._" She nudged her head, blonde pigtails bobbing with the notion. _As opposed to you,_ Soul thought as he glanced down at her chest. She paused at his hesitation, so he followed her anyways.

The party was invite-only, and only certain members of society would be invited. So why was she there? If she's so high up, why is she working at a library? Who _was _she anyways? Soul's mind filled with more invasive questions but he kept them stemmed by biting his tongue. They rounded the corner until they both came to a halt.

"This is it," she said with a smile. "Can I help you with anything else?"

He did what he should've done the first time. "No thanks, _Maka_," he responded.

She seemed surprised for a brief moment before realization dawned and she chuckled, straightening her name tag. "Then I'll see you around …?"

"Soul."

For the briefest of seconds her eyes narrowed before she smiled. "Soul," she amended, whirling around and leaving him to it. He stared at her retreating figure, thinking.

Her smile was as good as his drunk cover.

.::::::.

He didn't think the next place they'd meet was during a stakeout. Seriously - the worst timing. Though in hindsight, it was kind of poetic seeing how the first time they saw each other, he was doing something similar.

He was more in the outskirts of Death City now, shielded from the sun with an overhead umbrella, courtesy of the café he was visiting. He stirred his ice coffee, idly flipping through one of the books he more recently took out. The black text stared back at him but he didn't bother reading into it – too complex for him to care about. It was when he looked up that he was surprised. Sure, he had his eyes trained on the rendezvous point for a while, but it was when he saw ash blonde that it startled him.

Maka was sitting there, mulling over a newspaper. It looked like she was doing a crossword. She tapped a pen thoughtfully against her mouth, her eyes trained on the paper. He couldn't help himself: he got up, ice coffee in hand, and sat down beside her. "Is that you, missus Librarian?"

She didn't flinch, instead her green eyes flashed to him quickly, head downcast. He thought he saw a small upturn of her lips, but it was gone before he could reaffirm. "To what do I owe this pleasure, Soul?"

He grinned and casually leaned back. "Just saw you and I thought I'd say hi," he eyed the crossword which, for the most part, was completely blank, "and not to my surprise, you're doing something nerdy."

Once again, she didn't react, to his surprise. She just rolled her eyes. "What gives that impression?"

"You work at a library," he responded matter-of-factily.

"I'm more than meets the eye."

"So am I," he responded languidly, leaning back over to see the crossword. She almost chuckled, as if doubting his words. He let that one slide. "I'm in criminology, remember?" She laughed again. Part of him thought it sounded nice, but the other part knew it was a mocking laugh. _I wonder…_

She put down the pen and reached for her drink. Despite the hot weather she pressed a steaming, lidded cup to her lips. He was surprised to see a bit of a pinkish stain on the lid as she put her drink down. For whatever reason, he didn't take her as a girl to wear lipstick – but then again, maybe she wasn't a little meek librarian. "Honestly Soul, I'm surprised you're talking to me," she said thoughtfully. He raised an eyebrow at her but she shrugged, turning to look at him.

Again, those emerald eyes. They were mesmerizing. He held her gaze, beckoning her to continue. She smirked. "You don't seem like the type of guy who would talk to nerds like me." Her tone was icily calm. Almost testy. His instincts flared up but his face was soft – it was practiced and he wouldn't break it. He looked at her, assessing the situation.

To anyone outside, it merely looked like two friends. Or one friend who liked the other friend. It was amicable enough that anyone else would think that it was a chance encounter. He toyed with the idea but in the end, she could provide good cover. He hesitated, longer for more effect, until she seemed dissatisfied with his lack of response before returning to her puzzle.

With her eyes averted he glanced back at the rendezvous point. Nothing still. Eyes still trained on the door, he inclined his head towards her. "Not all nerds have to be uncool nerds," he responded, before quickly casting his eyes down to the paper. "By the way, fifty six vertical is-"

"'_Stealth'_, I know." She finished, writing the letters in with all caps. Anxiety boiled at the bottom of his spine. She seemed to know too much. His mind reeled but he dialed back. _Calm down, it's just a coincidence._ But as her fingers moved across the paper, he couldn't help but to follow. Slim, slightly calloused. Definitely interesting for someone who just _works at a library_. Her skin was like porcelain: a perfect pale.

A muted beeping went off, shaking Soul out of his thoughts. It wasn't his phone – he wasn't dumb enough to keep an alarm on during stake out. But rather it was hers. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. She glanced down and got up quickly. "Pleasure chatting, but I have to go." She gathered the newspaper and the pen, reaching for her bag. Soul got up as well.

He smirked. "Likewise, missus librarian."

"That's not supposed to be an affectionate nickname, is it?"

"Would tiny-tits be better?"

She rolled her eyes and slammed the newspaper against his head, which surprisingly had a lot of a harder impact than he was expecting. "_Ow!_" He complained in exasperation. To his surprise, her eyes were bright with amusement as a small smirk broke onto her face. She gave him a cheery wave before whirling around. Once again, she was gone before he could blink.

.::::::.

His eyes would follow her back and he didn't even know it. Kid commented that he was very _enthusiastic_ to keep up this "student" charade as well as he did. Soul wondered if it had to do with the fact that she was there: she was part of the ruse.

It never did occur to him, really, that if they had met under different circumstances, he would probably be as taken as he was with her. It _did _help with the façade though: he could march up to the counter and ask her questions.

Kid didn't even really assign him a target, that bastard. After claiming the next hit he had on his list, Soul wondered if he would be moving to a new location. Instead Kid smirked at him. "_Just a little longer,_" he had said, "_and I'm sure you're not complaining._"

He said it as if he _needed _help with his love life.

Dick.

But when Kid swiveled around to browse his computer, his bosses eyes were forelorn; thoughtful. He looked at Soul and grit his teeth. _"I do need you around a little longer. There are some matters I want to look into here, still, and having you stationed here would help that._"

_Good_. If he didn't have much time to hang around here, then he might as well have made the most of it.

So when he sauntered up to the counter he was already locked into the ash-blonde hair, pulled up again in those two cute pigtails. Her school uniform was as boring as ever, but her back was towards him as she was minding her own business. She must've heard her footsteps as she turned around at his approach. "Hey again," she greeted cheerfully. "Do you require more assistance?"

"You're not gonna hit me on the head again, are you?" Soul replied testily. She merely smiled in response, eyes glinting mischievously. _Huh. Girl's not bad when she smiles._ She folded her arms neatly and leaned over the counter. Soul couldn't help but to notice that there was no change in the general chest area at the action.

"So what do you really want?" Maka asked. His hand shot up to the back of his head and began to scratch nervously. _Wait. Why is she making me nervous?_ He actually didn't really know why he approached her in the first place. But something about her ash-blonde hair made him want to curl his fists into it. To feel the silky strands between his fingers.

Well, he thought, he did want to enjoy the time he had here. This lady had intrigued him for a while, yet, so he figured he might as well test the waters. Besides, how long was he going to be staying, and for how long? He swallowed the thoughts and smiled. "I'm grabbing some food in a bit, and I was wondering if you'd -?"

Her face suddenly tinged with pink and Soul couldn't help but to find it rather endearing. The hard headed nerd looked away quickly as she blinked rather sheepishly. "Full of surprises, aren't you?" she muttered, her voice soft yet almost suspicious.

Soul suddenly felt the need to defend himself. "Well, I wanted to apologize for the other day. I was being kind of rude. And I just want to get to know you, _tiny-tits_," he couldn't help but to add. The resounding _smack!_ of whatever book she grabbed slamming down on his skull didn't help his confidence. But when he peeked back at her she was gripping the spine of – what was she reading? – and her eyes were dancing with fire.

"I get off work in five minutes," she said quietly.

Soul made a mental note to thank Kid when he got the chance.

.::::::.

_I think the assassin stuff might happen more offscreen as I develop relationships for now. Although let me know if you want to see more Cool!Soul assassin shenanigans before he becomes more align with the goofy dork we all know. _

_Review?_


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